


the waiting doesn’t make you tough

by ShyAudacity



Series: Riverdale Prompt Fills [4]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Archie grew up in the trailer park, Aromantic Asexual Jughead Jones, Bisexual Archie Andrews, Coming Out, Jughead Jones is a Good Friend, M/M, Minor Injuries, Other, Prompt Fill, Protective Jughead Jones, Queerplatonic Relationships, Role Reversal, Southside Serpent Archie, and Jughead grew up next door to Betty, minor hurt/comfort, most things are the same tbh, no veronica or grundy, sort of, sort of idk, the drive in never got shut down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 00:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10978245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: “Can I talk to you for minute?” Jughead says, trying not to let the anger seep into his tone.“Y-Yeah, sure Jughead.”They’re out of earshot from the other Serpents before Jughead speaks up.“Seriously, Archie? What the hell are you thinking? Since when did you join the Southside Serpents? Does your dad know about this?”“The whole town is going to know if you don’t keep your voice down. It’s not what you think.”“Oh, really? What exactly am I supposed to think when I see a teenager hanging around with a bunch of gangbangers?ORAnon asked: Okay so a jarchie au where Archie is secretly a south side serpent and that's why all the serpents are super protective of him plus his dad being one too but one day Jughead finds out about Archie being one





	the waiting doesn’t make you tough

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if this is what you had planned for the prompt, anon, but it's what I wrote. Sue me.
> 
> Unbeta'd and title from Unbreakable by Jena Irene.

Jughead moved in across the street from Betty Cooper when he was five years old. Their mothers had known each other in high school and set them up on a playdate a week after they moved into the neighborhood. Betty took one look at Jughead before she said she thinks he’s weird, but that’s okay with her.

When he starts kindergarten later that month, the first boy that he sees is a redhead with brown eyes that remind him of chocolate. Jughead tells him this and the boy laughs, then says his name is Archie. The two are nearly inseparable afterwards. Archie and Jughead spend at least one afternoon a week at each other’s houses all throughout elementary school, usually Jughead’s place. They would go to Archie’s more often but he always says that his house is too small and his mom doesn’t like the mess.

For years, their friendship went on like this, spending a countless number of hours together, not caring what anyone else thought about it. Then the boys started high school, Archie’s mother left his father, and Mr. Andrews lost his construction business. Archie always told Jughead that it wouldn’t change anything, that’d they’d seen worse and they would be friends no matter what happened.

But, despite Jughead’s best efforts, by the summer before sophomore year, the two had become complete strangers.

Walking into tenth grade without his best friend by his side made Jughead feel a little sad, but he wasn’t completely alone. He still had Betty, and occasionally Kevin. Jughead tended to keep to himself, doing whatever he could to keep the attention off of himself. He found that that often made him a target for bullies, as to why he could never figure out. He rolled with the punches, both metaphorically and physically.

Archie, however, had grown into a social butterfly. For him, being on the football team and being more than averagely good looking put him at the top of the high school food chain. He’d found a way to keep it from most everyone that he lived in a trailer park, and that his dad was unemployed. Archie doesn’t talk to Jughead like he used to and he understands that it’s common for people to fall away from each other; he’d just always thought it wouldn’t happen to them.

He knows that it was mostly on him, that he had been the one to drift away. He wishes that they hadn’t grown distant, that he had done more to stop it. There was a lot that Archie wasn’t telling Jughead, things that he wasn’t yet prepared to talk about. He didn’t know what else to do. Archie did, however, come to Jughead’s defense whenever he saw someone picking on him. At least, he never joined in on the mockery.

Like after Jason Blossom had died, and Reggie was giving Jughead shit, questioning him if he’d killed him. Archie had defended him then without even thinking twice about it. He’d stopped Reggie from turning Jughead into a punching bag insinuating that he’s dumb.

“Hey, shut the hell up, Reggie.” Archie had said, pushing him away.

“What do you care, Andrews?”

Archie glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t, just leave him alone.”

He had walked away with a black eye in the end, but Archie wasn’t upset. Despite their friendship having fallen through, he would have done anything to protect Jughead.

By the time October rolls around, the two of them haven’t done much more than nod at each other in the hallways since the incident in the lounge. Archie continued to play football and Jughead somehow managed to convince Mayor McCoy not to send the drive-in land.

He’d been working at the Twilight Drive-In since that summer, and he loved it. He loved getting to play his favorite classic movies; his boss was stoned more often than he wasn’t, so Jughead tended to take matters in to his own hands. As of lately, more Southside Serpents had started hanging around the drive-in. Jughead didn’t have a problem with them, they’d left him alone for some reason.

One Friday night right before Halloween, before the crowd from the football game rolled in, Jughead was setting up his horror film marathon movie list when he heard a bout of laughter come from behind the work room. Looking out the small window, he noticed a familiar red head standing with all of the Serpents.

“No way.” He draws out, speaking to only himself. Jughead is out of the small room in an instant, marching over to where Archie stands. Archie is facing away from him when he approaches; Jughead taps his shoulder, and Archie seems to pale at the sight of his old friend.

“Can I talk to you for minute?” Jughead says, trying not to let the anger seep into his tone.

“Y-Yeah, sure Jughead.”

They’re out of earshot from the other Serpents before Jughead speaks up.

“Seriously, Archie? What the hell are you thinking? Since when did you join the Southside Serpents? Does your dad know about this?”

“The whole town is going to know if you don’t _keep your voice down._ It’s not what you think.”

“Oh, really? What exactly am I supposed to think when I see a teenager hanging around with a bunch of gangbangers? These guys are bad news, Archie, you shouldn’t be here. Somebody from school could see you, what are you going to do then? Just act like it never happened, just like you did with our friendship.”

“Don’t give me that crap, besides what do you know?”

“I know that you’re better than this.” Jughead spits out, getting in his personal space.

Archie’s face falls the slightest bit before the two of them are being interrupted.

“Is there a problem over here, Red?”

Jughead looks over Archie’s shoulder to see a guy with longer, dark hair coming towards them. He can’t be more than twenty by the looks of him.

“No, I’m good Joaquin. Don’t worry about it,” he says, waving him off. He looks back to Jughead, a sad look on his face. “I’ll see you at school, Jug.”

Jughead watches Archie walk back over to the Southside Serpents. He stands there for what feels like an eternity trying to figure out what ever happened to the Archie that he swore he once knew. When nothing comes to him, he gets back to work, trying his damn hardest to forget that the whole thing ever happened.

*

Two weeks after their conversation at the Twilight Drive-In, Jughead is home on a Saturday night. His mom and younger sister are at a Birthday party and his father is upstairs, drinking himself into a stupor. Jughead is in the living room, watching _The Breakfast Club_ for the tenth time when he doorbell rings. He’s not expecting anyone, and it’s late; he doesn’t know who it could possibly be.

When he opens the door, Archie is in front of him with a split lip and the beginnings of a black eye. He’s cradling his wrist to his chest.

 “Hey Jug.” Archie says, looking up sheepishly at Jughead. “I’m sorry to bother you so late, but do you have a first aid kit?”

The next thing things he knows, Jughead is sitting on the coffee table with Archie on the couch in front of him. He’s wrapping an Ace bandage around the red head’s wrist when he finally decides to speak up.

“How did this happen exactly? Who did this to you, Arch?”

“It was nothing, I was working a job and things went a little sideways on us.”

“Us? As in you and your friend Joaquin?” Jughead accuses.

“Jug-.”

“You know what, I don’t get you. You’re captain of the football team, you could have any girl that you want and you’re the new Golden Boy of Riverdale now that Jason is dead. Why on earth would you possibly feel compelled to join the Serpents? What are they doing for you that’s so great?”

“They’re keeping me _safe_.” Archie shoots back. “Which is more than anyone else in this town ever did.”

Jughead grows quiet after that, feeling ashamed of himself for giving Archie a bad time. The two of them sit there in the dark of the living room, not speaking for what feels like forever.

“You heard about my dad, right? About him getting shot at Pop’s last month?”

Jughead nods. He’d heard all about it the Monday morning after the incident, the whole school had been talking about it. There was a robbery at Pop’s and Fred Andrews had taken a gunshot to the ribcage, at least that’s what the news report had said. Jughead had wanted to reach out to Archie, to give him his sympathy, but he hadn’t a clue of what to say.

“It was one of the Serpents, that shot my dad, I mean.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’ve joined them-.”

“Just let me finish, okay?” Archie says, holding up his good hand. “It was some new guy, someone that they’d just let become a Serpent. He wasn’t- what happened at Pop’s, it wasn’t supposed to go down like that. The new guy and my dad, they were just supposed to get the money and leave. Nothing else. But the new guy, he thought my dad was going to bail on him or something, so he shot my dad. Then he took off with the money, no one has seen him since.”

“Wait, your dad is-.”

“I swear, Jug, I didn’t know about him being a Serpent. Not until after the accident. Joaquin and a few others came to talk to me at the hospital, that’s when he told me about the whole thing. They said that they’d look out for me and help out with the medical bills if I joined them. I didn’t know what else to do. C’mon, look me in the eye and tell you wouldn’t do absolutely anything to protect your mom and Jellybean, or even your dad.”

“You’re right,” he says quietly. “I’d do anything…but that doesn’t explain why you’ve gotten so distant from me. If it’s not the Serpents keeping you away from me then what is it? What did I do?”

Archie shakes his head, leaning forward, his voice barely a whisper. “No, you didn’t- I…” Then, Archie is pressing his mouth to Jughead’s, kissing him with intent.   

Surprised, Jughead pulls away; immediately he sees the upset look on his friends face and wishes he could stop it from happening again. Before he can react, Archie is getting up, making a move for the door.

“I’m gonna go.”

“Wait, Archie, you don’t have to-.”

“I’ll see you around.” He says, closing the door behind him.

Jughead sighs, dropping his head to his chest. He knows he should have handled that differently, and he hates himself for it. He goes up to his room after that, _The Breakfast Club_ having been long forgotten. Jughead lies in bed and stares at the ceiling, trying to think of how he’s going to fix this. He falls asleep before he can think of anything worthwhile.

*

The next morning, after a night of restless sleep, Jughead gets up, pulls on his shoes and his beanie and goes over to Archie’s trailer without a second thought. Jughead knows the walk there like the back of his hand, having made the trips hundreds of time throughout his life.

A surprised looking Archie opens the door, his shiner far more obvious than the night before. He furrows his brow and the raven-haired teen in front of him.

“Can I come in?” Jughead asks with a shrug.

“Y-Yeah, sure.” Archie says, moving to let him in.

Jughead hasn’t been inside the Andrews trailer in nearly two years, but nothing has changed in that time. The smell of coffee is as strong as ever, it reminds Jughead of all the mornings he spent here after a sleepover. The only thing that seems to be missing is Fred Andrews.

“Where’s your dad?”

“He’s at physical therapy right now, for- well, you know.”

Jughead nods, stuffing his hands in his pockets nervously. He’d there come with a purpose and now he’s failing to find words.

“Jughead, I’m so sorry about what I did last night,” Archie starts. “I should never have kissed you without as-.”

“I’m not mad, Arch,” He interrupts. “You just caught me off guard, that’s all… I wasn’t aware that you swung that way.”

Archie huffs, leaning against the counter top. “I swing both ways, I just haven’t told anybody about it. Besides, it’s not like we talk much anymore. I haven’t exactly been the ‘Friend of The Year’ towards you. I had distanced myself because I had these…feelings for you and I didn’t know how to deal with them. I should’ve told you sooner, I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me dude, if I was in your shoes I probably would have done the same thing. But yeah, I wish you had told me. For the record, whichever way you “swing” is cool with me.”

“Thanks man,” Archie says with a grin. “What about you? Which way do you “swing”, if you don’t mind me asking.

Jughead pulls a face. “I don’t think I swing, honestly. I’ve never really been into anybody, romantic or otherwise. That could change I guess, but for now that’s where I’m at.”

The red head nods. “Cool, I can respect that.”

The tension that was in the room to begin with has been replaced with a feeling of relief, coming from both of the boys. Jughead looks up at Archie, feeling for the first time in months that he’s not staring at somebody he no longer knows.

“You know they re-opened Pop’s a couple of days ago,” He says. “The two of us could go get breakfast or something, if you want. We could work on being friends again… if you want to that is.”

“Yeah…yeah I’d love that. Being friends again, I mean.”

A minute later the two of them are off, walking into the sunlight towards Pop’s. If you asked Jughead, he’d say if felt like coming home again for the first time in years. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.  

**Author's Note:**

> Before you come at me over this, Jughead is always going to be Ace in my book. Ergo, I will write him that way. Deal with it.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you liked it, if you have a prompt, you can leave it here or at my riverdale blog via tumblr (thejugheadchronicles). Thanks again for reading, have a great day!


End file.
